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ARCOmadrid 2025
Mamali Shafahi & Domenico Gutknech -
Parallel Circuit X Zaal Art Gallery present “Eternal Rest”, a collaborative work by Mamali Shafahi and Domenico Gutknecht at ARCOmadrid 2025.“Eternal Rest” presents a hauntingly immersive installation that transcends time, memory, and existence. This visionary project merges painting, sculpture, and spatial installation to construct an ethereal, otherworldly environment, challenging the boundaries between life, death, and the dreamlike unknown.At the heart of the installation is a striking interplay between darkness and luminescence, where vivid, glowing paint contrasts against an abyss-like setting. The artworks, encased in ornate black frames, depict surreal landscapes bathed in neon hues—floating islands, celestial bodies, and spectral figures seemingly suspended in time. These elements evoke the sensation of drifting between worlds, an exploration of the liminal space between wakefulness and the eternal beyond.
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Shafahi and Gutknecht’s fascination with the subconscious, mythology, and altered dreamscapes is seamlessly intertwined with sculptural interventions. A monumental black skeletal figure, suspended from a chain, dominates the space—suggesting both the weight of mortality and the transcendence of the soul. The presence of dark, textured material spilling onto the floor further reinforces the idea of decay, rebirth, and the cyclical nature of existence.The central theme of “Eternal Rest” is an exploration of what remains after life—memory, energy, and transformation. The installation does not portray death as an end, but rather as an evolving state of being. The Celestial Eye motif, present in the paintings, symbolizes an omnipresent observer, an entity watching over an eternal landscape where time dissolves into infinity.By incorporating elements of science fiction, folklore, and spiritual symbolism, the artists invite the audience into a meditative yet unsettling space—a dream world where familiar forms dissolve into abstraction, and where stillness is charged with an eerie, supernatural energy.In the age of digital immortality and artificial consciousness, “Eternal Rest” questions the permanence of existence. Are we ever truly at rest, or do we persist in memories, data, and cosmic echoes? By merging the organic with the synthetic, the sacred with the futuristic, Shafahi and Gutknecht craft a space where the past, present, and future collapse into one.This installation aims to challenge the audience to engage with their own perceptions of mortality, afterlife, and transformation—ultimately asking: What does it mean to rest eternally?
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Mamali Shafahi
Installation Views
